I
have never been a runner. In my day 18 post on trail running,
I discussed how much I hated running & documented my first venture out onto
the trails which nearly ended with a premature groin injury & ultimately
culminated in me finding out that I was indeed quite slow.
Today marked exactly
one month since my first venture out onto the trails on March 29th,
so it seems appropriate to take this opportunity to review my progress &
the shift in my mindset that has occurred since my original run. In today's post, I review my
progress versus my first run, look at how my mindset towards running has
changed, review some key takeaways from my 1-month running journey, & also look towards next
steps & future goals for my trail running.
Progress
My first trail run was a 6.33KM
adventure out onto new trails which took me 36:15 for an average pace of 5:44
per kilometre. At the end of these 6.33KM, I felt as though my heart was going to jump out of my chest & my legs felt as if they were filled with battery acid. Today I was able to complete 10KM in 49:47 which equates
to a pace of 4:57 per kilometre, just barely scraping under the 5:00 per
kilometre goal that I set for myself in my week 6 training review. Although the run was challenging, it did not feel particularly taxing on my body save the last 1KM sprint to ensure that I met my goal 10KM in under 50 minutes.
As a percentage, my improvement
in pace from 5:44 to 4:57 equates to a 13% increase in speed which I was able
to achieve while increasing my distance by nearly 4KM, or 58% of my original
run. Although some of this improvement is certainly a result of me not knowing
how much to push myself or how to set a pace on my first run, I am still quote
proud of how much I have been able to improve.That said, I still believe I have room to improve, as the pace of my kilometres varied from as low as 4:30 to as high as 5:38. As I learn to better control my face, I believe my kilometre split time will improve, resulting in an overall faster time.
Although I will always look to
increase my pace, my primary focus on my long runs moving forward is going to
be increase the distance while maintaining my speed. I will be
completing trail runs each Saturday until my race on June 24th,
adding 2 kilometres each week, ultimately finishing with a 24 kilometre run on
June 17th; one week before my Spartan Race. Although more race-length
runs prior to race day would be ideal, I want to make sure I am incrementally increasing my distance in order to prepare my body for the longer distances & avoid any injuries. With a balance of strength & endurance required for the Spartan Race, I cannot afford to miss strength training later in the week due to over-exerting myself on my Saturday run.
Mindset
Perhaps the biggest change from when
I first started trail running a month ago until now has been the shift in my mindset. While I still
feel the dread of the impending run before I set out, I instead try to look at
it similarly to how I look at my strength training workouts where each workout
is an opportunity to improve over the one prior. One of the great aspects of
the ‘MapMyRun’ application I use is that after each kilometer it provides you
the pace on your previous kilometre as well as your total running time. This
provides a great motivator to increase my pace where needed & the real-time feedback keeps the run interesting & challenging. A great example
of the update pushing me to improve is on today’s run where I was on my home stretch when the
application let me know that I had completed 8 kilometers in 40 minutes, 25
seconds which meant I had to complete the last 2 kilometers of my run in 9
minutes 35 seconds, a little ahead of the pace of my run to that time. This
caused me to kick up my pace, ultimately allowing me to achieve my goal of 10
kilometers in under 50 minutes.
While I run I try to focus on
what I am listening to at the time to help take my mind off of the run, but
when it gets tough I will tell continuously tell myself ‘slowing down is an option, stopping is not.’
Even if my pace slows to a leisurely jog, I make sure that I am always putting one foot in front of the other & making progress, because ultimately it is stopping that is going to cause me to not beat my previous weeks' time. Another favourite of mine is to repeat ‘you can do this’ over & over
again in my head to push through the most challenging aspects of my run. I first adopted this strategy during high-intensity interval
training when I realized I could push myself through a lot more than I
originally thought possible just through some positive thinking.
Finally, a thought that I try to
tell myself is ‘you’re out here anyway, you might as well set a PR.’ If you’ve been
reading this blog for any length of time at all, you have realized that I am
completely obsessed with incremental improvement. I don’t care if it’s one
repetition, one pound, or one second; I am going to be better than I was
yesterday, otherwise what’s the point? I use this mindset during my runs. When
I’m struggling, I just think about how disappointed I will be if I'm not able to push past last weeks pace, & tell myself that I will just push through this kilometre then see how I feel. Inevitably, when I hear the pace has improved, I am motivated to keep pushing. This
mindset allows me to push myself further than I am otherwise able to & to this point, has allowed me to continuously improve with each long run.
Takeaways
In my original post on trailrunning, my 4 takeaways were to get off of the treadmill & out onto the
trails, to incorporate hill training, to force myself to get out there, &
finally to change my mindset towards running. Today I am going to look at some
of my biggest takeaways from the 4 weeks of running since this time.
- Importance
of Rest: in my day 26 post where I discussed the importance of adequate sleep,
I revealed that I had been struggling with muscle recovery & that I thought
lack of sleep was one of the major detractors. While I believe sleep was an
important ingredient that was missing in my muscle recovery, I believe time off
was another major factor. At the time I was taking 2 days off per week, but I
would still go to hot yoga & often perform some form of cardio on these
days, so I really wasn’t giving my muscles time to recover. I have found that
if my long runs follow leg workouts, my performance is seriously depleted.
Instead I have switched my training routine to ensure I have a day off the day
prior to my long run to ensure I am able to maximize my performance on my runs. I will continue to ensure my legs are well-rested prior to my runs, as I have identified running abilities as the major focus of my training program from now until race day.
- Positive
Reinforcement: as discussed above, I believe my mindset towards
running has been negative in the past & I have allowed this negativity to spread beyond
simply the act of running & permeate into my view of
myself as a runner. I would tell myself that I wasn’t a good runner, which
would give me a reason to give up early or avoid running altogether. Instead of
focusing on not being a good runner, I have tried to shift the focus to being
an improving runner. By constantly
improving my running abilities, even if it is marginally so, I help reinforce the
notion that I am becoming a good runner.
Self-deprecating humour aside, I have made improving my mindset towards running
a priority, whether it be through repetition of affirmations while running, or
by monitoring & being proud of the progress that I’m making on my trails. While I will allow myself to not like running, I refuse to identify myself as a bad runner, simply an improving runner. I believe this small shift in thinking can have powerful implications.
- Sources
of Motivation: finally, as much as I try to pump myself up to become
a good runner, it can be helpful to occasionally find motivation from outside
oneself. As discussed in my post on the Spartan Up! Podcast yesterday,
I listen to the podcast while I’m working out, especially during long runs. The
topics are always uplifting, motivating & interesting. While I love Joe
Rogan & Tim Ferriss' podcasts, I find them too hard to follow while working
out & they do not provide consistent motivation like the Spartan Up
podcast does. I have found more than a few times that the podcast has helped me
to kick my run into overdrive when a particularly inspiring guest is on, or
when Joe says something particularly profound about manning up or pushing
through. Additionally, since the podcast is only 20 to 30 minutes long, hearing the end of a podcast reinforces to me that I will get through my run & that I am that much closer to finishing.
Next Steps
Now that I am a month into my
trail running journey, I have just less than 2 months of trail running left
before race day on June 24th. As I have documented in numerous
recent posts, improving my running abilities has become the primary focus of my
training program. While I am happy with how my strength training has progressed through the first 6 weeks of this journey, I feel as though my improvement in
terms of running abilities has lagged behind. Moving forward the focus will be
on each of my three running days per week, making sure that I am adequately
rested & ready to perform my best, however the primary measuring stick of
my progress will be on my Saturday morning ‘long’ trail runs. My entire week of training is
set-up to make sure my legs are at their freshest on this day, so I am really
going to push the pace on these days, treating them as 'race days,' looking to improve on every single run.
As mentioned above, the focus is going to be to ‘lengthen’ my runs by 2
kilometres each week while maintaining, or improving, my pace of 5 minutes per kilometre.
While my running abilities still remain a
weakness in my Spartan Race training, I was pleased to look back & see the
improvements that I have been able to make over the past month. With nearly two
months left of training prior to race day, I am cautiously optimistic that I
will be able to get my running abilities to where they need to be to help power
me through the Spartan Race come June 24th. The keys to my improvement are going to be rest, consistency, a positive mindset, & a focus on continuous improvement.
100-Day
Spartan
No comments:
Post a Comment